Spontaneously breathing patients get tension pneumothoraces
- 1Emergency Department, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- 2Departments of Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine and Pre-hospital Care, The Royal London and Newham University Hospitals, London, England, UK
- 3Departments of Surgery, Community Health Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary, Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Correspondence to Dr Simon Leigh-Smith, Emergency Department, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 51 Little France Crescent, Old Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh EH16 4SA, UK; simon.leigh-smith{at}luht.scot.nhs.uk
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Contributors SL-S and DJR drafted the first version of the manuscript. SL-S, TH and DJR provided critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript prior to submission.
- Accepted 5 January 2012
- Published Online First 27 January 2012
- Clinical manifestations
- positive-pressure ventilation
- signs and symptoms
- spontaneously breathing
- tension pneumothorax
- pleural disease
- clinical epidemiology
- lung trauma
The recently published correspondence by Simpson is welcomed in so far as it correctly highlights some issues concerning tension pneumothorax.1 We agree that there are large differences in the pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of spontaneously breathing and mechanically ventilated patients presenting with a tension pneumothorax. It is also well established that hypoxaemia …
